Drawing breakthrough

Today, during art class, Nikki sketched his first realistic drawing! It was of a kitty with many whiskers and many legs. And I KNEW I should have scanned it before he applied watercolors but I didn't. So now his first, realistic (non-scribble) drawing is lost under a patina of watercolor.

We have been really enjoying Artistic Pursuits. Today we looked at The Birthday Party by Chagall and we talked about the artist using imagination to depict emotion. So Ben drew a smiling salamander to depict how happy his time with Kai makes him. I drew a picture of me on a horse flying through the stars to depict how happy riding makes me. And Nikki drew a kitty to depict how happy cats make him.

Tamara, you can easily do it on the weekends. If you do it once a week it takes about 30-60 minutes per lesson. 10-20 minutes for the introduction and to discuss the painting. Another 20-40 to do the art project. We usually compare the painting we are discussing to other paintings by the same painter. Then we set the timer while the boys sketch (silently). I find that has really encouraged better composition when they have to use a pencil before we get out the other art supplies and they know that they have a long time to sketch before we take out the rest of the supplies.